whbos

I have done imports from FTM 2009 to TMG and it does take a long time. For me it was about five hours on a slow system. Afterward the locations and sources needed to be fixed. However, TMG will import all my links to images and it's the only program I know that will do this. Getting out of any FTM software is a major pain so I stopped using it. For two years now I've been cleaning up an FTM 2009 import to Legacy via GEDCOM and it's a major cleanup job. I didn't want to use TMG because it's too out of date and far too much cleanup compared to Legacy. I'm hoping that TMG will come out with a new version soon because Legacy is based on old technology too (Access 2000) and, while it has a lot of good features, it also has a large learning curve. Legacy also doesn't manage images very well and there's know way to list all source-citations or who they're connected to. That is my major complaint with Legacy. I'm thinking of switching back to TMG, but I don't even know if the "current" version will work with Windows 7 64-bit.

When I tried to backup my project and I came to the last window after finalizing all of my settings, TMG v7 locked up. In the upper left-hand corner of the window it shows the old Windows flag (something from the days of Windows 3.1). When I try to close the program out, it won't close. I get an error message related to FoxPro. I thought version 7 had gotten past FoxPro and into the 21st Century. FoxPro never was a good database--now or then! If I had known it was still based on FoxPro I never would have upgraded. I reopened TMG7 after rebooting because every time I tried to close the damn program I couldn't get rid of either the FoxPro message or the Windows message to either Retry or Switch To. I thought I'd check for an update in case I missed something. When selecting "Check for an update" from the Help menu, TMG closes, checks for an update, then doesn't reopen. Opened it, closed it without backing up, and got the same Windows message asking whether to Retry or Switch To. Switch To what?

I just updated with the first patch to TMGv7 and it still had the problem. Then I noticed another thread regarding error messages that had a remedy for that person. It detailed something about deleting the CDX files in the project, then I ran all of the tools under File>Maintenance. I performed a back up and then closed the program without any problems.

It might be easier exporting to GEDCOM from FTM 2008 since this version of FTM is such a mess anyway. I moved from FTM v16 to 2008, but fortunately retained my original v16 data file. I've done several test imports from FTM 2008 to TMG v6 (v7 wasn't out at the time) and the conversion was a mess. I tried from FTM 2008 to other programs like Legacy and that data was also a mess. I'd have to put the blame on FTM 2008 since it messed up my FTM v16 data as well. At least exporting from FTM 2008 to a GEDCOM should retain your original data. I converted an old FTM file to TMG v4 years ago and it did a fairly good job. Because TMG is more advanced, I had to do considerable cleanup to get things where they should go and it took several months. I'm sure the process is a little better now. It's too bad that FTM 2008 doesn't let you convert back to previous FTM versions otherwise this process would be easier. I guess this doesn't answer your question about when Wholly Genes will be releasing an update.

I ended up having to upgrade from Norton 360 v1 to v2 because my virus protection was ending this month. The difference between updating an older version and upgrading to the next version was $20 so I upgraded. The upgrade is a better version. However, I still have problems closing out of TMG v7 after a backup. I have to use the Windows Task Manager to close it. It also still crashes if you check for an update within TMG. My older programs work fine, but they have to be uninstalled and reinstalled after the Norton upgrade. I did the same for TMG, but it still fails after a backup or crashes after checking for updates. There's a conflict between the two programs and I suspect it's the MS dot Net thing because all of the problem programs use this menacing software. Closing TMG with this method is a minor irritation, but if it continues to make backups without problems I can live with it until it gets fixed. I just hope the backups aren't corrupt.

Follow Up: I ended up reformatting my hard drive which has taken over two days to reinstall. I installed Norton 360 v1 and did not update to version 2. It seems to be working fine for now. I think the problem is with Norton 360 v2 which, as I said, I've had problems with other programs not working properly. I wish software companies would stop depending on Microsoft programs for their own. It really causes problems especially if they are using an older version for .NET. My printer is less than two years old and uses an older version of .NET Framework and every time I try to update the driver I have problems elsewhere. It makes me want to not upgrade anything anymore.

I experimented a little by uninstalling TMGv7 and installing TMGv6, but the latter had the same problem. I never had this problem before. I recently reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled everything because of problems with an upgrade to Norton 360 which was the cause of problems with other programs. I noticed that if a program didn't work, I just uninstall it and reinstall it and it works just fine. It has to be installed or reinstalled after Norton 360 is installed. I mentioned this problem to Symantec (makers of Norton 360), but they ignored it. Anyway, I thought it could be a problem with Microsoft .NET Framework so I uninstalled the 1.1 version I had on my computer and installed version 2. Version 3 I've had problems with some time ago. I can back up now in TMGv7, but when I exit the program I get a blank window with TMG still showing at the top. I have to do a CTRL-ALT-DEL and close TMGv7 out in the Windows Task Manager. Backups seem fine now. There's a conflict somewhere and I dread having to reformat my hard drive again. No wonder people hate PCs and go to a Mac. I don't really like the Mac, but it's these frustrations with Microsoft that drive people away from the PC.

Thank you for posting this information. This is such a great idea. I created my roles and am adding cemeteries as well as updating TMG to incorporate this. I don't know a thing about all the codes, but am trying to learn it. There's so much to learn about TMG that I've never bothered to since version 4.

I have decided after so many years that a particular line is most likely not related at all, or I cannot find adequate proof that they are related. I would like to remove one person and all of the descendants below him. To do this manually would take a long time and I don't want to delete the wrong ones. Is there an easy way in version 6.12 to do this. I don't need to separate them to a their own file, but if there is a way to do this and delete from my main data file I don't mind that either. As long as I can get rid of them from my main file. Anyone have any ideas or solutions for doing this? I looked all through the menus and can't find any other way except to do it manually.

Just calculated the numbers: Old File (records) people: 1400 names: 1560 New File (records) people: 1328 names: 1483 Focal Group (the descendants to get rid of): people: 72 names: 77 I guess no one was lost. I hope I don't regret this later on. Anyway, still have the old file backed up, but don't want to have to add to it as well as the new file in case something got screwed up.

They're gone just like you said they would be after deleting that data set. I just hope I didn't lose anyone else along the way. I have the project saved prior to and afterward. I should do a comparison.

I got it to work, but a real big problem. All of the ID numbers have "1:" added as a prefix which removes them from the families where they belong. This doesn't seem to be anything that TMG6 can do without screwing up your family file. Maybe I'll just leave well enough alone and leave this mysterious family intact. The only thing is I generate my TMG file to my website with John Cardinal's SecondSite program and wanted to leave these people out since I don't think they below. I also use TMG exclusively with all of my family photos as well. I guess I can live with this dud family that I can't get rid of. Thanks for all of your help. LornaHenderson: I've never used the accent feature. I use the Surety numbers for sources that are good, bad, or uncertain, but the accent feature might be worth a try instead. Thanks for the suggestion.

I had created a Focus Group, but found no way to import it into this new data set. I think this is a terrible way to get rid of descendants of one person. Wholly Genes, take note. I guess I'm going to have to do it manually. I know this probably isn't something that people do every day, but there are probably occasions when someone wants to export (and delete) a particular line from their main data file and keep it in a separate file. Thanks for your response, but there doesn't seem to be an easy way to do this. These people have been in this data file since TMG 4 so deleting manually is probably the best way.

Can you move them by selecting the descendants of a particular person, or do you have to select each of the individuals? If the latter, this should be something for the next version. In Family Tree Maker, which I also use, you can select by "Outline Descendant" and delete everyone at once. This would be a nice feature in the next version of TMG. I played around with the Focus Group, but didn't see any useful way to get rid of these people. I will try your instructions and let you know. All of these people came from someone else's file and I'm not researching these people anymore so see no reason to keep them in the main file. I saved them in FTM as a separate file. Thanks for the quick response! Edited to Add: Forget the manual edit. I just noticed that it is changing my ID numbers. This is probably not something that I should do. I'm glad I backed up before attempting this.